QUERCUS    ALBA 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

THE  VETERAN  OF  THE  OZARKS 


Quercus  Alba,  conqueror,  towers 
dominant,  invincible,  above  the 
tops  of  his  overpowered  antag- 
onists; .  .  ,  stands  there  to-day, 
a  giant  four  feet  in  diameter,  ris- 
ing, white  and  clear,  sixty  feet 
above  the  head  of  puny  man, 
before  the  first  branches  diverge. 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

THE  VETERAN  OF 
THE  OZARKS 


WILL   LILLIBRIDGE 

AUTHOR    OF    "BEN    BLAIR,"    ETC. 


CHICAGO 
A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO. 

1910 


COPYRIGHT 

A.  C.  McCLURQ  &  CO. 
1910 

Published  September  10, 1910 


R.  R.  DONNELLEY  *  SONS  COMPANY 
CHICAGO 


QUERCUS    ALBA 

THE   VETERAN    OF   THE   OZARKS 


QTJEKCUS  ALBA 

THE  VETERAN  OF  THE  OZARKS 


T  TOW  do  I,  the  chronicler, 
know  the  truth  of  the  tale 
I  am  to  tell?  The  question  is  a 
fair  one;  yet  I  shall  not  answer, 
because  I  cannot.  Moreover,  no 
man  in  the  same  position  could 
answer.  If  I  were  to  reply  at  all 
it  would  be  by  asking  a  question 
in  turn;  and  that  random  query 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

would  perhaps  be  thus:  How  do 
you  yourself  know  you  live?  .... 
The  details  of  the  narrative  then 
you  specify:  How  do  you  vouch 
for  their  accuracy?  And  again  I 
counter  with  a  new  inquiry,  any 

one  of  a  multitude,  —  this,  let  us 

% 

say:  How  do  you  personally  know 
that  the  boulder  you  see  stranded 
and  alien  on  the  open  prairie  far 
away  from  a  kindred  formation 
was  transported  on  the  advancing 

wave    of    a    prehistoric    glacier? 

8 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

Were  you  there  to  chronicle  its 
coming,  or  mortal  man  your  ances- 
tor? Yet  in  your  own  soul  you 
know  you  live;  and  the  boulder  is 
there,  a  thousand  miles  from  its 
native  ledge  —  and  you  do  not 
doubt  the  manifest. 

Likewise,  in  this  chronicle  of  the 
life-romance  of  a  white  oak  the 
evidence  stands;  a  tangible  thing 
which  I  have  seen  for  myself,  and 
which  you  can  see  for  yourself  if 
you  care  to  take  the  trouble. 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

Similarly  every  incident  of  its  past 
career  you  can  yourself  see  dupli- 
cated separately  in  other  trees  liv- 
ing amid  like  conditions  in  other 
sections  of  forest.  There  is  no 
imagination  required  in  telling  a 
tale  of  Nature.  Her  laws  are  un- 
changeable ;  and  a  given  result  in- 
evitably presupposes  certain  events 
having  occurred.  They  cannot  be 
fancied  or  falsified,  or  the  result 
would  give  the  romanticist  the  lie. 

They  simply  were;  and  the  obvious 

10 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

fact  that  a  man  or  men  could  not 
have  been  present  to  record  the 
sequence  of  incidents  running 
through  generations  of  human  lives 
can  not  alter  their  fundamental 
truth.  Unlike  those  of  man,  the 
biographies  of  plants  and  of  so- 
called  lower  animals  have  nothing 
to  explain  or  to  render  con- 
sistent. Their  lives  are  an  open 
page  to  which  a  simple  knowl- 
edge and  love  of  Nature  are  the 

cipher-key. 

11 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

In  the  vegetable  as  in  the 
animal  world,  what  is  oblivion  for 
one  individual  is  opportunity  for 
another.  Thus,  when  in  that  long- 
ago  day  there  broke  the  storm  that 
carried  destruction  to  the  group  of 
veterans  crowning  the  plateau  of 
a  misnamed  Ozark  mountain,  it 
meant  life  and  possibilities  infi- 
nite to  the  scattered  acorns  on  the 
ground  beneath.  Had  that  storm 
not  come  at  the  time  it  did  come, 
the  tale  of  this  particular  white  oak 

12 


QUERCUS     ALBA 

would  have  been  brief, — brief  as  the 
lives  of  its  predecessors  season  after 
season  were  when  they  germinated 
only  to  die  again  beneath  the  dead- 
ly shade  of  the  parent  limbs.  But 
now,  when  the  storm  passed  and 
the  warm  sun  shone  anew,  it  was 
to  beat  upon  the  forest  floor  for 
the  first  time  in  generations,  as 
man  reckons  time.  For  at  last  the 
mighty  had  fallen,  victims  of  the 
decrepitude  of  age  and  of  their  own 
ponderous  weight.  Coeval,  simi- 

13 


QUERCUS     ALBA 

larly  senile,  the  group  fell  as  they 
had  lived,  together,  under  the  re- 
lentless mandate  of  Nature,  who 
respects  not  age  if  it  be  useless, 
and  enforces  her  sentence  by  the 
medium  of  the  unusual.  Prostrate, 
their  great  trunks  twisted  and  torn 
by  the  impact  of  the  fall,  their 
withered  leaves  dropping  like  rain 
with  every  passing  breeze,  their 
tale  was  told.  Like  human  beings, 
from  earth  they  had  come,  and 
similarly  to  earth  they  were  re- 

14 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

turning,  as  certainly  as  relentless 
Nature's  laws  and  the  passage  of 
time. 

In  midsummer  it  was  that  the 
storm  took  place,  the  only  time  of 
year  when  the  catastrophe  could 
have  been  complete,  when  foliage 
was  full,  and  the  power  of  wind 
and  storm  in  consequence  most 
formidable. 

Following  within  a  week,  the 
summer  sun  and  the  heavy  sum- 
mer rains  had  done  their  work,  and 

15 


QUERCUS     ALBA 

only  the  bare  branches  arose  as 
shade.  Between  them,  fair  upon 
the  moist,  fertile,  forest  floor,  fell 
the  hot  rays.  Under  their  influ- 
ence thousands  of  tiny  seedlings, 
product  of  the  previous  season's 
acorn  crop,  hitherto  struggling  for 
life,  began  to  respond,  and  like 
puny  sun-starved  children  of  city 
slums,  of  a  sudden  transported  to 
the  realm  of  sunlight,  took  on  life 
and  the  color  of  health.  Here  and 

there   other   acorns,   hitherto    dor- 

16 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

mant,  felt  the  same  instant  call  of 
life,  and  germinating,  sent  tender 
green  shoots  upward  to  mingle  with 
their  mates.  During  the  remainder 
of  that  season  and  until  the  late 
coming  of  frost,  they  grew  all  and 
mightily.  That  they  should  do  so 
was  inevitable,  for  every  condition 
favored  them,  had  been  prepared 
by  preceding  generations  of  their 
kind.  The  forest  floor  was  neither 
too  wet  nor  too  dry;  the  soil 

was    fertile   as    a     prepared    bed 

17 


QUERCUS     ALBA 

from  ages  of  decaying  leaves ;  every 
mineral  salt  that  baby  trees  de- 
mand was  present  in  abundance. 
As  certainly  as  though  they  were 
human  and  the  favored  offspring  of 
the  rich,  the  world — their  world- 
was  theirs  for  the  taking;  and  one 
and  all  they  prospered  and  grew 
until,  with  the  coming  of  Autumn, 
the  plateau  was  a  mat  of  green 
with  their  shoots. 

Until  frosts  came  upon  the  land 

they  were  alone  and  unmolested, 

18 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

as  much  so  as  if  the  world  were  in 
its  infancy  and  they  the  sole  occu- 
pants. Then,  at  the  time  of  falling 
leaves  and  falling  seeds,  came  the 
invasion.  Surrounding  the  open 
space  cleared  by  the  storm,  stretch- 
ing on  every  side  until  the  earth 
met  the  sky,  was  unbroken  forest; 
and  from  this  came  the  strange 
horde.  From  veterans  and  tall 
standards  bordering  the  edge  of  the 
clearing,  falling  acorns  bounded  on 
obstructing  limbs  and  fell  among 

19 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

the  little  seedlings  far  out  in  the 

clearing.  Near  at  hand  was  a  clump 
of  pines,  and,  whirling  in  the  wind 
as  they  fell,  came  showers  of  dainty 
cones.  A  great  hard  maple  added 
its  quota  of  feathery  seeds.  Squir- 
rels and  birds,  unconsciously  aiding 
Nature's  scheme  of  distribution, 
when  they  fancied  they  were  only 
selfish  in  the  labor,  added  and  scat- 
tered other  seeds  until  every  tree 
in  the  surrounding  forest  was  rep- 
resented in  that  nursery  battle-field, 

20 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

until  every  foot  of  earth  had  its 
latent  possibilities  of  life.  Then, 
and  not  until  then,  the  cycle  of  the 
seasons  was  complete,  and  while 
the  mild  Arkansas  Winter  passed, 
vegetable  life  was  dormant. 

With  the  coming  of  the  following 
Spring  and  the  renewed  flow  of  sap, 
from  the  dull  brown  of  Winter  the 
plateau  again  took  on  the  tinge  of 
green,  as  each  little  seedling  put  on 
its  season's  dress.  At  first  that 
was  all,  until  Spring  drew  into 

21 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

Summer;  then,  had  an  observer 
been  where  no  observer  was,  the 
first  movement  of  the  army  of  in- 
vasion, heretofore  passive,  could 
have  been  seen — the  all  but  si- 
multaneous upward  shooting  of  a 
multitude  of  tiny  aliens.  Among 
that  army  which  had  come  many 
never  appeared  to  answer  the  call 
of  the  roll  at  this  the  beginning  of 
the  battle.  The  decaying  vegeta- 
tion upon  the  forest  floor  was  too 
deep.  Though  in  the  course  of 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

events  they  germinated,  their  roots 
never  reached  earth,  and  in  con- 
sequence they  withered  and  died. 
But  under  beating  rain  the  ma- 
jority were  driven  down,  down 
through  the  soft  blanket  until  their 
roots  grasped  the  bed  of  the  com- 
mon mother,  and,  as  their  predeces- 
sors had  done  the  season  before, 
they  grew  mightily  in  the  rich 
loam.  Oh,  the  second  season  after 
the  catastrophe,  the  marshalling  of 
the  forces  for  the  future  battle! 

23 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

Following,  season  after  season,  new 
recruits  would  come,  did  come;  but 
their  advent  was  too  late.  Though 
they  could  germinate  in  endless 
cycle,  there  their  effort  would  cease; 
for  now  that  which  was  their  dead- 
liest enemy,  shade,  had  come, — a 
thing  which  to  the  forward  was 
good,  for  it  prevented  the  evapora- 
tion of  life-giving  moisture,  but 
which  to  the  late  arrival  meant 
death  alone.  Hitherto  merely  a  pre- 
lude, the  real  battle  was  now  on. 

24 


QUERCUS      ALBA 

And  now,  prominent  upon  the 
scene,  comes  little  Quercus  Alba, 
the  white  oak  seedling,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  third  cycle.  During 
the  seasons  past  there  had  been 
no  mutual  struggle  or  rivalry  with 
neighbors,  only  individual  freedom 
and  friendly  aid  to  keep  the  forest 
floor  moist  and  fertile.  But  now, 
under  their  rapid  growth,  con- 
ditions were  changing.  Hitherto 
free  on  every  side,  now  little 
White  Oak  began  to  feel  the  irri- 

25 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

tating  touch  of  his  neighbors' 
branches,  particularly  when  the 
wind  blew  and  the  tender  arms 
were  in  motion.  Likewise  in  the 
soil  beneath,  his  rapidly  spreading 
roots  came  in  contact  with  other 
rootlets  similarly  searching  for  the 
plant  food  therein  contained.  Clos- 
est to  the  little  oak  was  a  tiny 
pine,  an  invader.  Almost  as  near 
was  a  brother  oak,  product  of  an 
acorn  from  the  same  veteran  par- 
ent. Already  the  individuals  of 

26 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

this  clump  of  three  began  to  inter- 
fere, for  always  their  branches 
brushed  each  other  as  they  waved. 
Already  between  them  the  battle 
for  life — none  the  less  deadly 
because  it  was  silent — was  on. 
There  was  not  room  for  all,  but 
for  one  alone;  and  the  selection  of 
the  one  that  was  to  survive  was  to 
be  made  by  the  eternal  law  of  the 
fittest. 

At   first,  for  a  season  and   an- 
other, there  seemed  little  difference 


QUERCUS   ALBA 

in  strength  between  them.  The 
soil  about  all  their  roots  was  prac- 
tically identical,  and  each  drew 
from  it  all  possible  nourishment; 
desperately,  in  an  effort  to  outstrip 
the  others  in  size,  each  of  these 
now  directed  its  growth  more 
and  more  upward.  Less  and  less 
nourishment  was  going  to  the  in- 
terfering side  branches,  and  in  con- 
sequence they  became  unhealthy. 
Also,  now,  shade  from  the  mingling 
tops  began  to  fall  upon  them — 

28 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

and  shade  to  a  limb  or  a  leaf 
means  death.  Gradually,  season 
by  season,  they  grew  weaker  until 
finally,  when  they  were  completely 
shaded,  they  died;  and  the  first 
step  in  the  natural  pruning  of  the 
future  forest  had  been  taken. 

Time  had  passed  while  this  was 
taking  place  —  years  ;  and  from 
seedlings  the  group  upon  the  pla- 
teau had  arrived  at  the  dignity  of 
saplings.  Likewise,  with  each  pass- 

29 


QUERCUS      ALBA 

ing  year,  the  struggle  for  growth 
had  grown  fiercer,  the  necessity  for 
dominance  more  insistent.  And 
among  the  thousands  of  comba- 
tants Quercus  Alba,  no  longer  little 
Quercus  Alba,  but  Quercus  Alba, 
the  large  sapling,  was  struggling 
with  the  rest;  yet,  though  there  were 
still  many  contingencies  which 
might  alter  the  denouement,  an  ob- 
server could  have  seen  that  this 
particular  sapling  was  in  the  lead. 

Just  why  this  was  so  no  man  could 

30 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

have  told,  any  more  than  why  one 
brother  of  a  human  family  grows 
taller  and  another  remains  short. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  it  was  so. 

Kindly  Nature  had  made  him 
more  vigorous  for  growth,  more  fit 
than  his  mates.  Already  he  began 
to  tower  above  his  own  brothers  at 
his  side ;  not  much,  but  enough  to 
give  the  advantage.  Still  more  he 
dominated  the  pine,  for  here  the 
advantages  were  racial,  his  kind  be- 
ing ever  more  tolerant  to  shade. 

31 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

Already,  though  far  distant,  the  end 
was  in  sight. 

Again  years  drifted  by;  spring 
rains,  summer  suns,  winter  lethar- 
gy; and  as  the  prophecy  had  been, 
so  the  fulfilment  came  to  pass. 
A  small  pole  now,  six  inches  in 
diameter  at  the  height  of  a  man's 
breast,  Quercus  Alba  was  domi- 
nant in  his  own  clump.  The  pine 
had  been  long  overtopped,  and  was 
dying  gradually.  The  oak  was 

32 


QUERCUS   ALBA 

well  shaded,  and  had  ceased  to 
grow,  and  its  leaves  were  turning 
pale.  Its  end  was  likewise  close 
at  hand.  Beneath  the  ground,  also, 
the  result  was  the  same:  there  was 
no  rivalry  now,  and  the  roots  of 
Quercus,  dominant,  spread  in  every 
direction.  The  nourishment  that 
before  had  fed  the  three  now  went 
to  him  alone,  and  he  grew  more 
and  more  rapidly,  with  the  exult- 
ant lustiness  of  a  conqueror. 
Thus  the  first  battle  was  won; 

33 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

then,  almost  before  it  was  com- 
plete, upon  the  distant  horizon 
loomed  a  new  necessity,  a  new 
challenge  for  life-combat.  For, 
while  these  three  had  been  fighting 
for  existence,  similar  battles  had 
been  waged  all  about;  and,  as  Quer- 
cus  Alba  himself  had  done,  the 
other  victors  here  and  there  began 
to  lift  their  heads  above  the  gen- 
eral level. 

Similarly  they  grew  and  might- 
ily, each  alike  from  the  life-blood 

34 


QUERCUS  ALBA 

of  the  defeated.  Growing  rapidly, 
their  side  branches,  spreading 
wider  and  wider,  began  to  touch,  to 
interfere.  As  before,  all  could  not 
survive  —  there  was  not  room; 
and  in  repeating  cycle  the  familiar 
battle  for  upward  growth,  which 
meant  shade  dominance  and  life 
itself,  was  repeated;  only  now  it 
was  a  mightier  contest,  not  of 
thousands  but  of  hundreds,  and  of 
stalwart  poles  instead  of  tender 

saplings. 

35 


QUERCUS      ALBA 

And  among  the  first,  again,  to 
recognize  and  to  accept  the  new 
challenge  was  Quercus  Alba.  Again 
at  either  side  he  felt  the  slighting 
touch  of  hostile  companions;  this 
time  adversaries  worthy  of  his  best 
effort,  for  they  were  oaks  like  him- 
self; only  one  was  spotted  and  the 
other  black.  All  three  were  appar- 
ently equal  in  size.  All  were  young, 
as  the  ages  of  trees  are  reckoned, 
and  vital  with  the  lust  of  life.  It 
was  to  be  a  battle  royal,  the  best  of 

36 


QUERCUS     ALBA 

its  kind;  for  there  was  space  for  one 
and  one  alone — space  to  the  end. 

Again  time  drifted  on.  In  far- 
away haunts  of  men  and  of 
civilization  wars  were  waged,  con- 
flagrations waxed  and  waned,  poli- 
cies of  nations  were  developed,  and 
record  thereof  passed  into  history. 
And  meanwhile  here,  buried  in  the 
heart  of  the  forest,  the  relentlessly 
silent  life-struggle  went  on.  And 
again,  as  before,  when  the  neces- 
sity arose,  Quercus  Alba,  the  large 

37 


QUERCUS      ALBA 

pole,  arose  nobly  to  the  occasion. 
Whether  it  was  that  his  roots  were 
set  in  more  fertile  soil,  or  that 
fewer  insects  (which  prey  upon 
all  trees)  retarded  his  growth,  or 
whether  it  was  because  of  an  in- 
nate superiority  of  vitality  which 
inevitably,  as  it  causes  one  human 
to  crowd  himself  above  the  level  of 
his  mates,  made  this  particular 
tree  dominate  his  fellows,  no  man 
can  tell.  Again  the  result  alone 
stood  out  incontrovertible  in  evi- 

38 


QUERCUS      ALBA 

dence.  Slowly  but  surely  Quercus 
Alba  was  outstripping  his  darker 
and  his  spotted  brothers.  Slowly 
but  surely  his  crown  arose  above 
other  crowns.  His  blighting,  deadly 
shade  fell  upon  them.  Meanwhile 
the  process  of  natural  pruning  was 
going  steadily  on.  Branches  at  the 
side,  one  by  one,  were  strangled  and 
died,  and  newer  layers  of  cambium 
—  the  annual  ring  growth  —  cov- 
ered smoothly  the  wounds  which 

they  had  left.     But  at  last,  as  to 

39 


QUERCUS      ALBA 

all  battles  both  of  men  and  of  trees, 
there  is  an  end  ;  the  end  of  the 
battle  came.  A  vigorous,  healthy 
standard  now,  with  a  trunk  eighteen 
inches  in  diameter  and  rising  forty 
feet,  clear  and  white,  from  forest  bed 
to  crown,  Quercus  Alba,  conqueror, 
towered  dominant,  invincible,  above 
the  tops  of  his  two  overpowered  an- 
tagonists; towered  level  with  or  a  bit 
above  every  other  tall  conqueror  on 
the  plateau  —  and  the  long,  long 
battle  for  the  sweet  reward  of  life, 

40 


QUERCUS      ALBA 

for  the  privilege  of  drifting  on  grace- 
fully to  old  age,  was  done. 

Now,  at  last  free  from  the  neces- 
sity of  battle,  free  to  grow  accord- 
ing to  the  dictates  of  his  own  will, 
there  seemed  no  reason  why  Quer- 
cus  Alba  should  not  continue  to 
increase  in  size  indefinitely.  In  the 
beginning  he  did  so,  for  the  space 
of  a  human  generation,  and  still 
another.  In  the  moist,  fertile  soil 
about  his  roots  food  was  unlimited. 

Above  were  sunlight  and  air  with- 

41 


QUERCUS      ALBA 

out  stint.  Neighbors  were  comfort- 
ably near,  but  friendly  now.  For 
all  this  time  he  grew,  his  crown 
rising  season  by  season  higher  to- 
ward the  sky,  his  girth  widening 
by  successive  annual  rings,  his 
great  arms  spreading  wider  and 
wider.  On  and  on  the  expansion 
went,  slowly  but  inevitably,  until 
the  last  point  of  development  had 
come,  and  the  giant  tree  was  no 
longer  a  standard  but  a  veteran. 
Then,  for  some  reason,  gradually,  as 

42 


QUERCUS      ALBA 

the  growth  had  augmented,  it  slow- 
ly ceased.  Yet  for  that  halt  there 
was  a  reason,  as  to  all  doings  of 
Nature  there  is  an  explanation;  as 
to  the  height  a  fire  engine  can 
throw  a  stream  of  water,  there  is  a 
limit.  In  each  case  there  is  a  fun- 
damental law,  and  unchangeable. 
This  eternal  law  the  great  oak  ex- 
perienced and  instinctively  obeyed 
—  the  law  of  rising  sap,  which  will 
flow  so  high  and  not  higher.  Like 

a  check  it  halted  growth ;  a  barrier 
43 


QUERCUS      ALBA 

which  Mother  Earth,  prodigal  of 
sustenance,  was  impotent  to  alter. 
A  thing  mature,  complete  product 
of  a  century  of  struggle  and  growth, 
Quercus  Alba  halted  to  remain  for- 
ever passive.  For  still  other  gen- 
erations, if  unmolested,  while  per- 
haps another  nation  of  surrounding 
humans  should  rise  and  fall,  he 
would  remain  so ;  but  slowly  now, 
extremely  slowly,  his  life-work 
done,  he  would  go  into  decrepi- 
tude—  as  again  human  beings, 

44 


QUERCUS      ALBA 

when  maturity  arrives  and  growth, 
ceases,  gradually  grow  senile.  Like 
his  parent  before  him  and  his 
parent's  parent  preceding,  destiny 
would  be  relentless — only  a  matter 
of  passing  time. 

Of  that  destiny  I  shall  not  know, 
nor  you,  nor  yet  our  children.  For 
Quercus  Alba,  the  veteran,  stands 
there  to-day,  a  giant,  four  feet  in 
diameter,  rising,  white  and  clear, 
sixty  feet  above  the  head  of  puny 

45 


QUERCUS      ALBA 

man,  before  the  first  branches  di- 
verge. Calm  with  the  passionless 
philosophy  of  age,  in  knowledge 
of  long  past  battles  fought  and 
won,  he  looks  out  over  the  sur- 
rounding valley  of  the  rolling 
Ozarks,  out  and  out  where  green 
and  green  alone  stretches  to  the 
horizon,  free  above  the  heads  of 
his  lesser  brothers.  Since  the 
time  when,  a  tiny  seedling,  he 
sprang  up  beside  the  parent  stump 
a  new  nation  has  arisen  and  con- 

46 


QUERCUS   ALBA 

quered  the  great  wilderness  about; 
civilization  and  its  wonders  have 
developed  as  neither  ever  before 
developed  in  the  history  of  man; 
nations  have  warred  and  lapsed 
into  peace;  statesmen  and  scholars 
have  been  born,  have  written  of 
their  work  on  the  page  of  fame, 
and  passed  from  the  arena;  yet  of 
it  all  the  great  Oak  knows  noth- 
ing, cares  nothing.  Sufficient  to 
Quercus  Alba,  the  veteran,  is  it 
that  summer  suns  come  with  the 

47 


QUERCUS      ALBA 

passing  seasons,  and  that  the  rains 
descend  in  their  time.  A  philoso- 
pher, he  stands  there  where  we, 
the  puny  spectators,  can  observe 
and  draw  the  moral  or  overlook  it 
absolutely,  as  we  please.  Despite 
the  long  inevitable  battle  which 
made  existence  possible,  Quercus 
Alba  has  found  life  its  only  justifi- 
cation. Though  oblivion  is  like- 
wise inevitable,  gathering  shape 
slowly  in  the  dim  distance,  he  will 
await  that  end  without  fear,  calm 

48 


QUERCUS      ALBA 

as  the  silent  mountains  surround- 
ing, calm  as  the  warm  Arkansas 
sunshine  that  gave  him  being. 
For  in  common  sequence  is  Mother 
Nature,  and  ever  Mother  Nature  is 
good. 

THE    END 


17S39 


LIBRARY  FACILITY 


000753789     7 


